I know that I write a lot in each blog post – this helps me remember what colours or cardstock I’ve used in case I want to get a similar effect in the future, in addition to providing information that some readers might be interested in – so please don’t think that you have to read every word I’ve written. If you don’t want to read my musings, or know what I used and how I made a card you can just click the thumbnail images to view each card at a larger size, and then click “Back” and scroll down to the next section.

admin

I've been crafting as a hobby for a long time, but ill health has meant that I've spent more time on it lately as it is something I can do even when confined to bed. In addition to the cards that I make for uploading to CUP, I've also made bilingual wedding stationary for family members and lots of other different types of card, some of which can be seen on my website. In this blog I'll try to note how easy or difficult any particular card has been to make.
In addition to making cards I make some bits of jewellery (when my hands allow) and knitting. I use to knit with needles and make everything from cabled patterns to socks, but I can no longer hold up and manipulate needles, so I've swapped to knitting on looms/knitting boards the last couple of years and am having fun trying out lots of new yarns to get different effects as oppose to complicated paterns.

Each ”Dragons Lair Designs Challenge” goes live the first Friday of the month with a new theme each time. The winner will get picked by “Random” so that it is fair for all levels of crafters. The winner gets a prize, as well as a badge for their blog, and the winning entry will also be highlighted on the challenge blog the following month. Although we’d love to see Dragons Lair Designs items on your creation, you may ENTER the challenge using ANY MATERIAL you wish as long as you clearly follow the set theme. You may enter the challenge with ONE entry per month. So why not consider joining in with us this month – go to the challenge blog and have a look at the rules and the inspiration created by my fellow Design Team members.

The theme for August is “Christmas in August”. If you are like many a crafter you will already have started to make your Christmas cards and other projects, so blog them and enter them and you could be lucky and get the DLD voucher at the end of the challenge.

Please join in and let us see your crafted creation.

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CREATION:

I decided to use items from a Dragons Lair Designs collection called Victorian Christmas. The collection contains a sheet to print off to make a rectangular pyramage card, but in view of the popularity of square cards at the moment I decided to have a play around with this sheet, together with other items from the collection, to create a square card front, with the illusion of dimension, that can be printed out at 4″ square to just about 8″ square (when a printer allows printing to the edge).

Dragons Lair Designs Item:

Victorian Christmas

Equipment:

My Craft Studio Elite software

Method:

I started off by taking the pyramage card topper sheet into the software, resizing it, and copying it so I had 3 copies. I then used the rectangular digital punch in the software to cut out the three layers of the pyramage. I then put these one on top of the other, matching up the image, as if I was working with the printed out image. Once the layers were in place I used the DropShaddow effect and Blur Radius to give the layers the impression of being raised on foam pads or dimensional glue.

I then took a background and tied ribbon element from the collection, put the background behind, positioned the “dimensional” pyramage, and added the tied ribbon.

I then added the greeting “Nadolig Llawen” (which is Welsh for Merry Christmas). I typed it in black, copied it, and changed the one behind to white. I then moved the black layer slightly to give an ofset look.

This is now ready to be printed off at a variety of sizes. I’ve been doing a bit of a tidy up of my crafting stash with the help of a nephew. Not got as far as I’d like, but have found a lot of pre-cut and scored square card bases in a variety of sizes that I can just measure and print out these card fronts at the right size, cut, stick on, and decorate with a little glitteraround the frame.

With postage being expensive for dimensional cards, using software to get a dimensional look but only actually sticking one sheet of cardstock on a card front, it keeps the weight of the card down, and using the smaller square base cards will keep the dimension of the cards small enough to go through the post using a standard stamp in the UK.

If you fancy trying out some of Dragons Lair Designs, please do visit the Store to find all sorts of digital goodies for crafting, and the minimum spend is only £2 (you’ll find great digi-stamps and lots more).

And why not join the “Dragons Lair Designs Fan Group” on Facebook. It’s a small, fun, group where we have lots of different activities which include exclusive challenges, daily inspiration and giveaways – and there’s a loyalty club for those who take part as well where taking part gets you points, winning gets you more points, and get enough points and you get a voucher to spend in the shop.

We have a page on Facebook. If you like the creations I’ve made using Dragons Lair Designs digital downloads then we’d love it if you popped over and “Like” us.

While I’m not a fan of Pinterest and especially people’s habit of posting images, digi-stamps, etc., to the site that they’ve got no rights to, you can follow designer Janette Padley on Pinterest!

You can see the cards I’ve made using design sheets from CUP in my “Crafter Showcase Area” on Craftsuprint.com – here
(Just scroll down past the top boxes to see the cards.)

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(Thank you for reading this far. I hope you like what you’ve seen and read – You should find a box below where you can leave a comment if you feel like it, but due to the fact that, like many I’m sure, I’ve had some problems with Spam/advertising posts that are absolutely nothing to do with the content of my blog, I now moderate all comments before they go live. Genuine comments will go live when I’ve checked through the list – usually a couple of times a day.)
(Thank you to every body who’s left comments on my previous blog posts. I really do appreciate them all.)

Each ”Dragons Lair Designs Challenge” goes live the first Friday of the month with a new theme each time. The winner will get picked by “Random” so that it is fair for all levels of crafters. The winner gets a prize, as well as a badge for their blog, and the winning entry will also be highlighted on the challenge blog the following month. Although we’d love to see Dragons Lair Designs items on your creation, you may ENTER the challenge using ANY MATERIAL you wish as long as you clearly follow the set theme. You may enter the challenge with ONE entry per month. So why not consider joining in with us this month – go to the challenge blog and have a look at the rules and the inspiration created by my fellow Design Team members.

For January the theme is : New Beginnings

The title “New Beginnings” can be interpreted in so many different ways. You may be thinking in terms of the New Year, so your creation might be a New Years card or calendar, but you can also think in terms of a new job, new baby, new home, an engagement or wedding with the happy couple starting a new beginning together.

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CARD:

I decided to go for a totally flat, one layer, card this time. Something I’ve not done in a while. I took papers and elements from the kit, together with the digi-stamp, into my My Craft Studio software. With the paper set to A4 portrait I worked on the bottom half of the working area, building up my design how I wanted it using the digital punch as well as resizing, etc., features in the software. I added a drop shaddow of various width to the layers and then printed the design out onto cardstock. I used my new Chameleon pens to colour in the digi-stamp in shades that worked with the colours of the background. I finished off by scoreing the sheet and folding it in half.

“Babi Newydd” is Welsh for “New Baby”.

I’ve tried to take an angled photo of the card to show that it really is flat and that the look of dimension has been created by giving “shadows” to the layers and elements in the software.

If you fancy trying out some of Dragons Lair Designs, please do visit the Store to find all sorts of digital goodies for crafting, and the minimum spend is only £2 (you’ll find great digi-stamps and lots more).

And why not join the “Dragons Lair Designs Fan Group” on Facebook. It’s a small, fun, group where we have lots of different activities which include exclusive challenges, daily inspiration and giveaways – and there’s a loyalty club for those who take part as well where taking part gets you points, winning gets you more points, and get enough points and you get a voucher to spend in the shop.

You can see the cards I’ve made using design sheets from CUP in my “Crafter Showcase Area” on Craftsuprint.com – here
(Just scroll down past the top boxes to see the cards.)

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(Thank you for reading this far. I hope you like what you’ve seen and read – You should find a box below where you can leave a comment if you feel like it, but due to the fact that, like many I’m sure, I’ve had some problems with Spam/advertising posts that are absolutely nothing to do with the content of my blog, I now moderate all comments before they go live. Genuine comments will go live when I’ve checked through the list – usually a couple of times a day.)
(Thank you to every body who’s left comments on my previous blog posts. I really do appreciate them all.)

Thank you for clicking over to have a look at my blog.Launch Day Creation

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Today a new collection has launched in the “Dragons Lair Designs Shop“ and as a member of the Dragons Lair Designs Design Team I got my hands on part of the collection ahead of time to work with.

The new collection is in a lovely vintage style – and as the title suggests – is all about Christmas.

Although it is lovely to make all sorts of creations ahead of Christmas for any sort of crafting, don’t forget that it can be used after Christmas to scrapbook photos taken during Christmas, or, if like many, you have old family photos sitting in a box that you’ve promissed yourself you scrapbook with at some point during the coming year then you are sure to find something in this collection to use with them.

I hope you like my creation.

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SCRAPBOOK PAGE LAYOUT

One old photo and elements from the collection only used for this layout.

Stamping Dragon Designs Item:

Items from the “Victorian Christmas” Collection – found – Here – in the shop.

There’s even a DISCOUNT available for the 1st week!

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You can see some more, very varied, items made by other Design Team members on the “Dragons Lair Designs Inspiration Blog“. Please pop over there for a look, and remember to go to the store to see all the various papers and elements available in this lovely kit.

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FOR YOUR INFORMATION

Dragons Lair Designs Links

If you fancy trying out some of Dragons Lair Designs, please do visit the Store to find all sorts of digital goodies for crafting, and the minimum spend is only £2 (you’ll find great digi-stamps and lots more).

And why not join the “Dragons Lair Designs Fan Group” on Facebook. It’s a small, fun, group where we have lots of different activities which include exclusive challenges, daily inspiration and giveaways – and there’s a loyalty club for those who take part as well where taking part gets you points, winning gets you more points, and get enough points and you get a voucher to spend in the shop.

You can see the cards I’ve made using design sheets from CUP in my “Crafter Showcase Area” on Craftsuprint.com – here
(Just scroll down past the top boxes to see the cards.)

-oOo-

(Thank you for reading this far. I hope you like what you’ve seen and read – You should find a box below where you can leave a comment if you feel like it, but due to the fact that, like many I’m sure, I’ve had some problems with Spam/advertising posts that are absolutely nothing to do with the content of my blog, I now moderate all comments before they go live. Genuine comments will go live when I’ve checked through the list – usually a couple of times a day.)
(Thank you to every body who’s left comments on my previous blog posts. I really do appreciate them all.)

Thank you for clicking over to have a look at my blogAn Update, A Few Musings, A Few Cards and Some Other Bits

If you don’t want to read my musings, or know what I used and how I made a card you can just click the thumbnail images to view each card at a larger size, and then click “Back” and scroll down to the next section.
I know that I write a lot in each blog post – this helps me remember what colours or cardstock I’ve used in case I want to get a similar effect in the future, in addition to providing information that some readers might be interested in – so please don’t think that you have to read every word I’ve written.

-oOo-

I had a bit of a session of crafting Thursday and yesterday. Didn’t get as much done as I wanted, especially as a lot had already been coloured and cut out ahead of time, but at least it’s a bit done.

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MUSINGS:

Christmas is getting nearer – and I’m slowly getting my Christmas crafting done. But people are already talking about having their decorations up. No chance! We’ve never put up decorations this early. I like having time to sit and enjoy the decorations when they go up, and there’s no time to do that until Christmas itself. So with us the decorations go up during the last week before Christmas – when we were young I remember rushing home when we were let out from school after lunch the last day of term to put up the decorations because the holidays had arrived – and we had to thoroughly dust and hoover the sitting room before putting anything up. I’m guessing that those who put up decorations earlier do so because it was a tradition in their family when they were growing up to do so.

I’m wondering what everybody else’s traditions are as far as Christmas decorations and their Christmas tree – do you put everything up early? Do you take them down as soon as Christmas has been? Do you like to put them up just before Christmas day but sit and enjoy them once Christmas day is past – not taking them down until a week or two into the New Year? And what about the Christmas cards you receive? Do they all go up in a prominent position? All hung but overlapping? Or do you only have room to put a few favourites on display, or perhaps swap them round over the holiday period?

It facinates me how the cellebration of one event – the birthday of Jesus Christ – can have so many different traditions associated with it, not only around the world but even within one country.

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CARDS:

(If you click on the thumbnail images you can have a look at a larger image of each item.)
(Clicking on the text links below each set of images takes you to the pages where you can see some of what I used to make the cards. Where these linked pages are on the CUP site you will usually find a longer description of how I made the item at the bottom of the page.)

Firstly a couple of Christmas cards:

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Sweet Jesus by Debra Jenkinson (I printed the sheet out onto 250gsm Super Smooth white cardstock and then cut out. As I’m working on cards that will go through the UK post using a standard letter stamp I split the layers in two, to make two shallower cards from the one sheet. One card was made as an A5 card front with two extra layers added, and this card was made with the full circular layer and the middle and smallerst layers, built up and stuck with 1mm deep, double sided foam tape. The card is one I bought pre-cut and scored. I went round the edge with a blue ProMarker and stuck the built up topper to this. I then did a dotty pattern with the same ProMarker over the background. I finished off with a very subtle, white, “Nadolig Llawen” peel-off – which is Welsh for “Happy Christmas”. I do like sheets that can be used in different ways and this sheet ticked the boxes for lovely image and versatility for me.)

This is one of my recycle/upcycle cards where I’ve chopped the front of a card off to use as a topper on this new card. It is attached to the front of a 6″ square, scalloped edged, card from my crafting stash and I finished it off by spotting blue glitter glue around the edges. Another card with a bit of sparkle but still flat enough to go through the post on a standard letter stamp in the UK.

One of the groups I belong to on Facebook, called “Let’s Make Marks” , is running an event called “Tickled Pink” at the moment. The idea is to create crafty creations incorporating markers with a PINK theme. Photos of the creations are to be uploaded into the event album in the group, and the cards themselves are to be sent off to the event organiser. After the closing date mid December the original works will be distributed amongst Breast Cancer Charities for them to sell towards their much needed funds.

The piece of 300gms Super Smooth white cardstock I coloured in blotches of the pinks I’d used to colour the image. This is what I used to die-cut out the flower embelishments for the previous, and the next, card.

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I’d cut out more flowers out of the ProMarker coloured panel than I needed for my 1st “Tickled Pink” card, plus some flourishes and a butterfly (the flourishes are from a Marianne die set and the butterfly is from a Joy butterfly die set), so I decided to use some of them to create another pink card. The base card is from the same set of blank cards as the previous card and I went rougn the edge of this with a Pink Carnation ProMarker. The mat was cut out using a Spellbinders Square die out of a pink, marbled look, Score Perfect cardstock. I used foam tape to attach the square and then glue gel to attach all the embelishments, finishing off with some sticky back pink gems.

This card isn’t quite as “pink” as the previous two. The image is from the same LoTV pack of black and white outline images as the first card, and the first time I saw this image I thought that the little child looks as if he’s dome something a bit naughty and is now legging it. I then thought – what if what he’s doing wrong is playing with his little sister’s nice new pink scooter? I like pink and brown together so I used the same type of base card as previously for this one and then went round it firstly with a Pink ProMarker to put quite a wide border, then with a brown ProMarker to give a very narrow line right at the edge. Both these ProMarkers were used to colour in the image. The colourse used were: Amethyst, Cinnamon, Cocoa, Cool Grey 5, 3, and 2, Black, Denim Blue, Satin, Orchid, Blossom, Pink Carnation, and Dove Grey FlexMarker. I cut the image out using a Spellbinders Square die and used one sized larger to cut out another square out of white Super Smooth cardstock. This white panel I coloured with the same Cocoa ProMarker I’d used on the dog in the image so that I had a perfect match as a mat for the image. Finger-lift tape was used to attach the image to the mat and 2mm deep, double sided foam tape was used to attach the matted image to the card front.

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SUNDAY SCHOOL CHRISTMAS:

Last week I took all my distress Inks, a bag of makeup sponges, some The Three Kings StenSkape stencils and some cut up pieces off a roll of white poster paper – and yes, I did remember to put down a covering before letting the children loose to create their pictures.

Of course, it isn’t easy to blend with makeup sponges on poster paper, but the children had fun and it kept them quiet while other stuff such as sorting out the order for the Christmas services was being attempted.

These are not what the children made though. Some of them have taken their creations home and the others have left them in the vestry until this coming Sunday School as they want to add finishing touches. What interested me was that they’d all gone for very sandy colours with the nativity manger, but none did the journey of the wise men or the shepherds in the fields at night. So being me – I had to have a play myself when I got home – not taking much time over it I must admit, just doing something to fill in the gaps in the story. As I said – not easy to make anything other than a very textured look with what they were provided with, but I finished off my creations with die-cut a die cut star, an angel, shepheards and sheep cut out using Signature Dies – Nativity 2013 from Joanna Sheen. I used my ProMarkers to colour the shepherds and added some clear Wink of Stella to the angel’s wings.

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Wise men following the star as the sun goes down.

Shepherds watching their sheep spot the angel.

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This is Herod’s crown. The base is made of Centura Pearl Snow White cardstock. One A3 sheet was cut in half along it’s length and I then die-cut the pattern at the top out of it with a Tattered Lace Die. While I had my Joy machine out I also embossed along the length of the cardstock using a long mask. I used super sticky tape to attach the two pieces together to make a long strip. I took some Sirdar Funky Fox purple yarn and knitted a strip over 6 peg pairs on my knitting loom until it was long enough to wrap around the length of the joined cardstock. I put some holes around the bottom edge of the cardstock and threaded pieces of the yarn through, then round the bottom and round the knitted strip and knotted in place. I did this every 2 or 3 inches. Before joining the other end together I went round the cut out top section with gold coloured Wink of Stella brush pen and added spots of various colours of Martha Stewart glitter glue.

This strip was knitted on the same knitting loom from the rest of the Funky Fox yarn and Herod can have it pinned across the front of his cloak as it isn’t long enough to go all round the neck and down the sides of the cloak.

An angel made of linen textured white cardstock and white parchement, stuck together using ultra tacky tape and quick grab glue. I used a stencil to emboss the outline and pattern before cutting the pieces out.

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JEWELLERY:

Some more cracker gifts.

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The same macrame knot as used in Shamballa bracelets was used for this one, but always going from left to right, rather than alternating both sides, to get a twist rather than a flat knoted piece.

Closeup of flower end of keyring.

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A simple cord necklace with a stone on a bail as a pendant and finished off with silver toned findings including a magnetic clasp.

Closeup of the pendant. It has a faint vain of the same colour as the cord I chose.

This is again a knotted item that’s knotted to produce a twist. This time it’s a mobile phone charm with two different sizes of Sodalite beads used in it.

20% Off Discount Code – The news from CUP HQ this week is that this will be the last month ever when they issue a 20% discount code at the end of the month – which is something they’ve done regularly for quite some time now. They have promised that they will bring more discounts in the future, but more spread out and at different times of the month, so saving up a wishlist for a regular spend at a set time of the month looks as if it’s a thing of the past. So make the most of this last code as the next code, whenever it may appear, may not even be for 20%.

This is the information you need – Enter the code LASTCODE into the redeem voucher box at checkout and then click UPDATE to save 20% ! Offer expires midnight 30/11/13

CUP Mailer – Here are the links to the mailers sent out by the team at CUP HQ since my last blog post:

Craftsuprint have a Mailer Archive where you can go to get links to mailers sent out over the last few months. This can be seen by clicking – here.

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(Thank you for reading this blog post. I hope you like what you’ve seen and read – You should find a box below where you can leave a comment if you feel like it – but due to the fact that, like many I’m sure, I’ve had some problems with Spam/advertising posts that are absolutely nothing to do with the content of my blog, I now moderate all comments before they go live. Genuine comments will go live when I’ve checked through the list – usually a couple of times a day.) (Thank you to every body who’s left comments on my previous blog posts. I really do appreciate them all.)If you can’t see the comment box then there should be a link that says “Responses” and clicking on that will bring up the box

Thank you for clicking over to have a look at my blog.
(I know that I write a lot in each blog post – this helps me remember what colours or cardstock I’ve used in case I want to get a similar effect in the future, in addition to providing information that some readers might be interested in – so please don’t think that you have to read every word I’ve written.)
(If you don’t want to know what I used and how I made a card you can just click the thumbnail images to view each card at a larger size, and then click “Back” and scroll down to the next section.)
-oOo-

You may remember that I’d put a card up at the start of my blog post of the 12th June that I was entering into several challenge blogs. Well I went back to the Through the Craft Room Door Challenge Blog today and spotted that I’d won the prize for the week June 11 – June 17, 2013. Whoopee! With so many entries I never expect my number to be chosen, so it was a lovely surprise.

I need to have a look again at the challenge blogs and see which ones I’m going to make a card for next.

I’ve not made a huge amount of cards so far this week. One was cut out using my Silhouette Cameo a week or two ago but I hadn’t put it together and decorated it. The decorations on this card, plus some that I’ve got on another card, were also things I’d cut out both using my Silhouette Cameo and also using dies some time ago. When I”m cutting out using either dies or electronic/digital cutting files I like to fill the cardstock with general flourishes and flowers and the occasional butterfly, and then keep these spares in a bag to use at a later date. So some of these have been used up on a couple of the projects I’ve got to show you today.

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CARDS:

(Clicking on the text links below each set of images takes you to the pages where you can see some of what I used to make the cards.)

I hope you like the assortment I’ve got to show you today – remember that you can leave a comment to let me know what you think at the bottom of the post if you feel like it.

Digital Stamp Geranium with coloured version too by Pamela West (I printed the digi-stamp onto 300gsm Super Smooth white cardstock at smaller than the provided size. I then coloured it in using my ProMarkers. The colours I used were: Moss, Olive Green, Tan, Lipstick Red, Pineapple Crush. I used acircle scissorsto cut the flower head out but used an “out of the box” technique thus leaving the leaves and stalk to be cut by scissors outside the circle. I then took a pack of black and white patterned papers from my crafty stash and cut out an assortment of different sized circles from a variety of the different patterns. I went round all the circles edges using a grey ProMarker. I took an 8″ square, white Crafty Bob base card and stuck the circles, and then the digi-stamp topper onto this using glue gel. I attached a piece of black glittered ribbon across the top left corner of the card and wrote “Penblwydd Hapus” – which is Welsh for “Happy Birthday” at the bottom right of the card. I finished off by doing some lines using the same pen around the outer edge of the card but missing the areas where the circles crossed.)

Pretty watercolour wash flowers Vellum by Carol Clarke, Spring Flowers and Lace matching Vellum by Carol Clarke and 6 Ornate Borders..SVG by Tina Fitch (I like making paper flowers out of the same background as I’ve used on a card because I know that they will tone perfectly. I printed this background out at half size and background cup78934_359 out at full size onto 300gsm Super Smooth white card-stock. I trimmed this floral background, scored it using my Hougie Board, and folded it in half. I then rounded the corners. This is my base card. I took my circle scissors and cut one circle of 3.15″ and 20 circles of 1″ from the other background and went round their edges with Imperial Purple FlexMarker. I made five paper flowers from the 1″ circles – see paper flower tutorial section. The larger circle from the other background was stuck to the card front using 2mm deep, double sided, foam tape. I then used glue gel to attach the paper flowers. As embellishment I used an electronic cut border down the left hand side, and an assortment of other electronic cut and die-cut elements from my bag of cut bits. I also added sticky back gems to the butterfly and the tag.)

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Square ‘Silver Metallic Frame’ Card Front or insert by Carol Clarke and Digital Stamp Rabbit with watercoloured version too by Pamela West (I printed the card front sheet out onto 300gsm Super Smooth white cardstock and measured the central circular area. I then printed out the digi stamp onto the same type of card-stock at a size that would fit. I trimmed this card front, scored it using my Hougie Board, and then folded it in half to make my base card. I coloured in the digi-stamp with ProMarkers of colours: Tropical Orchid, Powder Blue, Denim Blue, Forest Green, Holly, Grey Squirrel, Dusky Pink, Satin, Grass. After colouring in the digi-stamp I cut out a circle from it, went round the edge with a silver metalic marker and stuck it to the front of the card using 2mm deep, double sided, foam tape. I finished the card off by embellishing using two different shades of sticky back faux pearls. I’ve not put on a greeting yet as I don’t know what language the card will be needed in.)

Fancy Edge Card – GSD by Anne Huxter and 6 Ornate Borders..SVG by Tina Fitch (I took the cutting file into my Silhouette Studio software and cut out the various layers using my Silhouette Cameo. I used silver mirror card, white 280gsm linen textured white cardstock as the main card base, and also red 216gsm textured cardstock. I went over the edge of the largest layer with a Ruby ProMarker. I then stuck the layers together using glue gel to allow me to slide the layers into place and align them. I decorated the card with a small cut from the ornate borders, and an assortment of die-cut flourishes and flowers attached using quick grab glue. I also added some black sticky back gems. The flourishes and flowers were ones I’d cut out as “space fillers” when doing previous projects and then put to one side until I had an use for them, so I’m not sure which dies I used then.)

Square ‘Gold Metallic Frame’ Card Front or insert by Carol Clarke (I printed this card out onto 300gsm Super Smooth white card-stock, trimmed it, scored it using my Hougie Board, and folded it in half. I cut a circle out of Creata A4 300gm Hammered Cardstock using a circle scissors and went round this with a Plum ProMarker. I wrapped a piece of ribbon from my crafting stash round this circle, stuck it to the front of my card using 2mm deep, double sided, foam tape. I created a multi-bow from the same ribbon I’d used to wrap round the circle and stuck this to the front of the card using glue gel. I’ve not put a greeting on yet as I don’t know what language it will be needed in.)

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TUTORIALS:

I’ve not added anything new to my two tutorials sections lately, but if you look here -> Paper Flowers : 05 – 06 – you’ll find the instructions on how I made the flowers on the third card of the first batch above in section 6.

You can see the cards I’ve made using design sheets from CUP in my “Crafter Showcase Area” on Craftsuprint.com – here
(Just scroll down past the top boxes to see the cards.)

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(Thank you for reading this far. I hope you like what you’ve seen and read – You should find a box below where you can leave a comment if you feel like it, but due to the fact that, like many I’m sure, I’ve had some problems with Spam/advertising posts that are absolutely nothing to do with the content of my blog, I now moderate all comments before they go live. Genuine comments will go live when I’ve checked through the list – usually a couple of times a day.)
(Thank you to every body who’s left comments on my previous blog posts. I really do appreciate them all.)

Thank you for clicking over to have a look at my blog both new and regular visitors.
(I know that I write a lot in each blog post – this helps me remember what colours or cardstock I’ve used in case I want to get a similar effect in the future, in addition to providing information that some readers might be interested in – so please don’t think that you have to read every word I’ve written.)
(If you don’t want to know what I used and how I made a card you can just click the thumbnail images to view each card at a larger size, and then click “Back” and scroll down to the next section.)
-oOo-

Just five creations this time, some are a combination of items cut on my Silhouette Cameo and die-cuts cut on my Joy. No “male” cards this time, so I’ll need to think about a male and a children’s card before long to keep the balance. The first I’m entering into some challenges.

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CARDS:

(Clicking on the text links below each set of images takes you to the pages where you can see some of what I used to make the cards.)

Eclectic Ellapu – B is for…………. (Borders – one down either side; Butterfly – double butterfly flying in from the left; Bird Box – metal charm hanging top right of image; Buttons – 2 different red ones used as flower centers, one in each group of flowers)

6 Ornate Borders..SVG by Tina Fitch (I took the file into my Silhouette Studio software and cut the designs out of 280gsm linen textured white card using my Silhouette Cameo. One of the borders I stuck onto a wide red glitter ribbon which was stuck to the front of a folded over piece of the same cardstock – thus making a bookmark to go with the previous card.)

Fancy Plate,Stand & Box…SVG by Tina Fitch (The stand, back plate, and white flowers were cut out of 280gsm, linen textured, white cardstock using my Silhouette Cameo. The green elements were cut out of 250gsm Pearlescent cardstock and the purple out of 216gsm textured card-stock. After cutting I assembled the plate using 1mm deep, double sided foam tape to attach the layers and glue gel to attach the foliage and flowers. I finished off by putting on some sticky back, faux gems. I’ve not put a greeting on yet as I don’t know the language it will be needed in, but I’ve left a space in the centre for this.)

Ribbon Threading Fan Card….SVG by Tina Fitch (I cut the base card out of 280gsm, linen textured, white cardstock using my Silhouette Cameo. I cut the fan out of 216gsm red textured cardstock. I threaded a red glitter ribbon up the side of the card and use a strip of the same ribbon to wrap around the base of the fan. I used glue gel to stick a white feather over the cut out aperture and then the fan on top. I finished off the card with a die-cut corner and flower and a Cameo cut leaf sprig.)

You can see the cards I’ve made using design sheets from CUP in my “Crafter Showcase Area” on Craftsuprint.com – here
(Just scroll down past the top boxes to see the cards.)

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(Thank you for reading this far. I hope you like what you’ve seen and read – You should find a box below where you can leave a comment if you feel like it, but due to the fact that, like many I’m sure, I’ve had some problems with Spam/advertising posts that are absolutely nothing to do with the content of my blog, I now moderate all comments before they go live. Genuine comments will go live when I’ve checked through the list – usually a couple of times a day.)
(Thank you to every body who’s left comments on my previous blog posts. I really do appreciate them all.)

Welcome to any new visitors
and Thank You to any returning visitors for popping over once again to have a look at my blog
and also thank you to everybody who’s left comments on my previous blog posts.
(Please don’t think that you have to read every word I’ve written – Unless you want to know what I used and how I made a card you don’t actually have to read all the information I provide in the numbered details under each card set, you can just click the thumbnail images to view each card at a larger size, and then click “Back” and scroll down to the next section.)
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I’ve finished a small number of cards yesterday, some of which I created with a view to entering them into some challenges. I then went looking to see if I could find a couple more challenges I could enter them into, by which time I was too tired to finish writing this blog post. I’m not always sure that I’ve got the themes and rules absolutely correct. So, if you have come from a challenge blog please disregard my entry if I’ve messed things up and the card under the challenge name doesn’t match the requirements.

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CARDS:

(Clicking on the text links below each set of images takes you to the pages where you can see some of what I used to make the cards.)

Challenge Card One

When I think of spring I think of blue skies, and birds singing in the branches, and flowers growing, and that is what has been the inspiration for this first card.

I’ve decided to enter this card into the following challenges (remember to click on the thumbnail images to see them larger):

Finch on Branch Stamp by Janette Padley, Spring Flowers Digital Stamp by Janette Padley and Duel – Sky 1 Backing Paper by Kirsty Green (I printed the finch digital stamp, at smaller than the size provided, out onto 300gsm Super Smooth white cardstock and coloured it in using my ProMarkers. I also printed out the spring flowers lots of times, at a variety of much smaller sizes onto the same card-stock, and again coloured them in using my ProMarkers. The colours I used were: beak and feet – Gold; branch – Cinnamon, Cocoa; bird – Tan, Cinnamon; flowers – Yellow, Tulip Yellow, Gold; stems – Grass. I then cut out all these elements close up to the image – not the brightest idea I’ve ever had, even on a good day, because it took ages, with lots of stops and starts, and my hands and arms were very sore indeed afterwords. I know that small, fiddly cutting is difficult, sometimes impossible, for me, but I still get these urgges to design layouts that need fiddly cutting – Oh Dear! perhaps one day I’ll learn to think before I print. I printed out the dual sky background onto good quality 120gsm white paper. I made a stepper card out of pale green Adorable Scorable cardstock, using my Hougie Board to score lines for folding and cutting. I used a craft knife and metal edged rule to cut the two inside lines either side of the central panel. I took a die-cut frame and a trellis from my crafting stash and stuck them together using Tonic glue, sticking a panel of the palest sky background behind before trimming to the shape of the frame. This was stuck to the front of my card using 1mm deep, double sided, foam tape. I used finger-lift tape to attach two panels from the darker of the two dual sky backgrounds to each side. The green “wings” to the blank greetings panels are waste from the trellis coloured with the same green ProMarker I’d used for the flower stems and the oval greetings panel came from the same kit which I edged with the same yellow I’d used as a main colour on the flowers. I shaped the cut out digi-stamps and stuck in place using glue gel.)

This is an angled view of the same card to show that I’ve introduced dimension to the cut out digi-stamp images.

A closer look at the coloured in bird.

Challenge Card Two

I’ve decided to enter the following card into a few of challenges as well. It’s a quirky, fun, card made for somebody who’s done well at school:

Closeup of the sentiment written in white on the blackboard element from the kit. The dimension on the card is all created with shadows in the software, the actual card front is totally flat. With no fiddly cutting at all, this card wasn’t difficult to make at all.

And One Other

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musical roses rounded edge pyramid by Karen Wyeth (I printed the sheet out onto glossy Crafty Bob paper and cut out the pieces. I used a a roller glue tape pen to attach the base layer to a sheet of gold coloured Adorable Scorable cardstock and trimmed around it to leave a border of an eighth of an inch using a Perfect Layers ruler as a guide. I prepared a base card from an A4 sheet of Adorable Scorable card-stock in a colour to match the fine borders on the topper. I stuck the matted base image layer directly to this towards the top. I used 1mm deep, double sided, foam tape to attach each of the other layers in order. I made some paper roses from ready cut spirals, coloured in a soft pink, Pink Mittens ProMarker to go with the roses in the image, and stuck to the bottom right of the topper using glue gel. I’ve stuck one of the smaller images on the back with a roller glue pen, and have kept the other to put on the insert. I’ve left space at the bottom for a greeting panel to be added, but as I don’t know what language it will be needed in yet I’ve left it blank for the time being.)

You can see the cards I’ve made using design sheets from CUP in my “Crafter Showcase Area” on Craftsuprint.com – here
(Just scroll down past the top boxes to see the cards.)

-oOo-

(Hi All – You should find a box below where you can leave a comment if you feel like it, but due to the fact that I’ve had some problems with Spam/advertising posts, that are absolutely nothing to do with the content of my blog, I now moderate all comments before they go live. Genuine comments will go live when I’ve checked through the list – usually a couple of times a day.)

Thank You – to all you new and returning visitors for popping over to have a look at my blog
and also thank you to everybody who’s left comments on my previous blog posts.
(Please don’t think that you have to read every word I’ve written – Unless you want to know what I used and how I made a card you don’t actually have to read all the information I provide in the numbered details under each card set, you can just click the thumbnail images to view each card at a larger size, and then click “Back” and scroll down to the next section.)
-oOo-

I’ve only got two cards and a bag to show you today. I hope you like them and feel like leaving a comment at the end.

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CARDS:

(Clicking on the text links below each set of images takes you to the pages where you can see some of what I used to make the cards. Where these linked pages are on the CUP site you will usually find a longer description of how I made the item at the bottom of the page.)

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Rainy Days Clipart Brunette by Angela Wenke and 5 Pastel Plaid Backing Papers – CU4Cu by Mary Jane Harris (I took one of these images, together with a couple of different coloured backgrounds from cup375287_99, into one of my graphics packages and re-sized, moved around and manipulated the elements until I had a square, 14cm, card front I was happy with. I put a second layer of the main element on the other side of my A4 working space before printing the design out onto 300gsm Super Smooth white cardstock. I then cut out the main card front and extra topper element. I created my base card by trimming, scoring and folding an A4 sheet of white Adorable Scorable card-stock. I usedfinger-lift tape to attach the base layer to the card front, and 2mm deep, double sided, foam tape to attach the second layer. )

Designer Resource pack Elizabeth Florals by Susan Wood ( I took several elements from this kit into one of my graphics packages and re-sized, moved around, etc., until I was happy with the layout for a square card topper. I also placed several extra layers of the hat and flowers on the other side of my A4 working area to use as decoupage layers. The sheet I’d created was printed off onto 300gsm Super Smooth white cardstock and the pieces were then cut out. I created a base card by trimming, scoring and folding a sheet of Adorable Scorable card-stock in a very pale creamy yellow. I stuck the topper to this using 1mm deep, double sided, foam tape. I then shaped the other layers of hat and flowers and glued them in place using glue gel. The greeting on this card is “Penblwydd Hapus”, which is Welsh for “Happy Birthday”)

Closeup showing the dimension of this card.

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BAG:

It’s been ages since I did anything with torn, rather than cut, items on it – so I went mad with this one and tore all the layers for the matting and layering, as well as tearing all the flower and leaf embellishments.

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Peach Blossom Backing 4 by Janette Padley and Peach Blossom Backing 3 by Janette Padley ( I printed two sheets of Backing 3 together with one sheet of Backing 4 onto 120gsm, good quality, white paper. I used one of the sheets to make the torn paper flowers and leaves I’ve used to decorate this bag – I’ve taken photos of all stages of making the paper flowers and they will soon appear on my Making Paper Flowers pictorial tutorial section. I used Tonic glue to stick the flowers together. The other two sheets were used to make torn mats. I made the bag very sturdy as I want to put jewellery in it, so I used 2 sheets of 300gsm Super Smooth white cardstock to make it. I first scored using my Hougie Board, cut off the excess, stuck in place using Template Tape and put one strip of super sticky tape along one of the open top edges ready to seal the bag once the gift is ready to put inside. I then used glue gel to attach the panels, flowers and leaves.)

Closer look at the flowers used.

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TUTORIALS:

I’m working on some more pictorial guides on the two types of flowers I’ve used on the bag above for my “Making Paper Flowers” section – I’ve had to expand it to a section as it is now way to big for a page. The new flowers should be live at some point during this week, so please do keep checking back

20% Off Discount Code – Simply type the word ‘HOT’ into the REDEEM VOUCHER box on the basket page BEFORE you check out from craftsUprint then click UPDATE BASKET to save a whopping 20% off your total order value! Discount Code Offer Ends on 1st May 2013

CUP Mailer – Here are the links to the mailers sent out by the team at CUP HQ since my last blog post:

Monday, 29th April – Here! – You’ll find lots of designs by the top selling CUP designers showcased in this mailer, plus favourites from the top Registered Crafters.

Craftsuprint have a “Mailer Archive” where you can go to get links to mailers sent out over the last few months. This can be seen by clicking – here.

You can see the cards I’ve made using design sheets from CUP in my “Crafter Showcase Area” on Craftsuprint.com – here
(Just scroll down past the top boxes to see the cards.)

-oOo-

(Hi All – You should find a box below where you can leave a comment if you feel like it, but due to the fact that I’ve had some problems with Spam/advertising posts, that are absolutely nothing to do with the content of my blog, I now moderate all comments before they go live. Genuine comments will go live when I’ve checked through the list – usually a couple of times a day.)

On the 23rd, in my blog post, I said that amongst the cards I’d made was a competition entry, but that I wouldn’t put a picture up in my blog until the competition voting had closed. The entries go up anonymously in the competition gallery and the names only show after the voting has closed. Well for some reason the voting closed two days early and the winner was announced on the 28th, instead of the 30th, so here’s a picture of the card I entered:

The theme was to make a Floral Card using any download from CUP. Although I’ve bought many toppers with floral images and designs I just couldn’t choose one I preferred to use to make up a card – there are far too many really lovely ones available. So I thought I’d take a different tack and use only background designs from CUP and make up the flowers myself. These are the backgrounds I used:

The “Chocolate” coloured background from the first pack was used as the main background, the “Champagne Satin” from the second pack was used for the ovals, and the flower layers were punched out from an assortment of shades of backgrounds printed from all three packs. I think using background designs which have a graduation of colour gives a nice look to the flowers when shaped and the layers built up like this.

You should be able to read my description of how I made the card by clicking – here – but if you have any problems seeing it the let me know and I’ll copy the description over to my blog.

CUP Update:

Discount Code – The discount code is still available until MIDNIGHT 30th November 2011. The instructions are simple – Go to the craftsUprint site, choose any design sheets, kits, cutting files, etc., you want to buy and pop them in your cart/basket then – Simply type the word SANTA into the REDEEM VOUCHER box on the basket page BEFORE you check out then click UPDATE BASKET.

CUP Newsletter Mailer – A copy of the mailer sent out via E-mail on Monday, 29th November, can be seen by clicking – here. There’s a CUP TV episode with Sarah Edwards demonstrating on of her “Card in a Card”cards; A showcase of Silvia Griffin‘s ‘Curvy Top Folded Cards’; The “Card Maker Spotlight” falls on Geri Stringer this time and the “Designer Spotlight” falls on some of the Christmas cards designed by Sandra Carlse; plus lots of other designs and news for you to look at.

Card Making Competition – Don’t know why the voting was stopped two days before the date of the 30th of November given in the competition information, but it was, and the winner was announced early. The winning card was a really lovely one created by Cynthia Massey. You should be able to see it by clicking – here.

I’d like to thank those who voted for my card entry, and also thank those who left such lovely comments below it.

You can see the cards Ive made using design sheets from CUP in my Crafter Showcase Area on Craftsuprint.com – here
(Just scroll down past the top boxes to see the cards.)

I actually managed to put together a few cards yesterday, as well as get tidy pictures taken and get the pictures uploaded to craftsUprint. Mind you, I had done the printing and cutting before then, and I have several more to do. But it’s a start.

Two of the cards involved backgrounds as well as toppers of various sorts so there are 12 CUP sheets involved.

Have a look at the card pictures, and if you like the look of any then click through on the links beneath and you’ll get taken to the sheet I used so you too could have a go at making them. But you don’t have to make them up the same way as I did. I’m sure you can come up with other ideas.

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Metalic Blue Butterfly Envelope Card by Deborah Davies (The cutting round the “envelope” flap and the butterfly wings is not too difficult, so quite an easy card to make up, but very striking.)

Romantic Butterflies in Peppermint Green by Rebecca Brindley (What could be easier to cut out and three straight edged panels, and with the base card simply being an A4 sheet scored twice the whole card is easy to make. I just added some glitter for a bit of sparkle, though I could have matted and layered the panels or put some peel-offs round the edge as well – there are lots of possible ways to embellish if you wish, and lots of possible uses, such as DL card fronts or bookmarks)

White Rose by Barbara Alderson and Luscious Berries A5 Card Front or insert by Carol Clarke (The rose is decoupaged so the cutting isn’t all straight edges, but the flower itself and the leaves are reasonably easy to cut as they are quite chunky, the most fiddly bit was round the butterfly, though I don’t think it’s very intricate.)

GROOM 2 by Carol Brown and Wedding Dress Vellum by Michelle Johnson (A paper punch was used to give intricate detailing to this card, and the topper itself is just a simple to cut oval, so this card was a very easy one to put together.

Boy in the Rain Pyramid by Sarah Edwards (A straight edged pyramid topper so easy to cut and easy to put together. I just put some clear glaze on the raindrops and some metallic marker round the outside edge to embelish. Such a happy picture.)

Pansies by Tom Curtis (“Bookmark” toppers really are great. Use as bookmarks or as toppers on a DL card, or even use more than one on a “screen” or panel card.)

Beautiful Lily Wedding Cake by Susan Heanes (This design had more intricate cutting involved, but I have to admit to only cutting out one layer of the wedding cake to decoupage and only two of the butterflies to embellish, and it still makes a lovely card, so don’t think you always have to use everything on a design sheet. You can even just use the base image with the scalloped edge if you want.)

Spring Bouquet – Quick Card by Julene Harris (A design that suits so many occasions, from Get Well to birthday, from Mother’s Day to Sympathy, and very easy to cut out and make as well. A good design to have in your digital library.)

There are now over 60 entries to the June 2011 Female Birthday Competition uploaded to the card gallery. Even if you’ve not been a craftsUprint customer in the past there’s still enough time to go to the site, buy a few designs and make up a card to enter. £5 worth of sheets or kits is the minimum order and it would be a good way to start a digital library of card-making designs if you’ve not done so already. The rules are simple Make any Female Birthday Themed card using any download from Craftsuprint! Entry will be open until 24th June and the winner will be announced on July 1st. In my last post I said that I had made my card but was waiting for the rain to stop, and some sunlight to come out, so that I could take a picture of my entry to upload. Well this is now done. So all I’ve got to do now is wait for the voteing and hope I get a few votes. Don’t expect I’ll win as there are some really stunning cards uploaded this time.

Craftforums is a great craft forum provided by the lovely team at craftsUprint HQ for crafters of all ability and designers to chat together. So if you are not already a member why don’t you consider joining. If you’ve ever struggled to find just the right design for a card, you know what you want but just can’t find anything suitable, then Craftforums has a great section called “Ask An Expert / Designer” where you can not only ask anybody on the forum if they can help you with a specific problem or query, but you can also put out a request to the designers to see if they can come up with just the right design for your needs. Many CUP customers have been very happy with the positive response from the designers to various requests, so give it a try.

The other things that are still ongoing on the CUP site include:

Crafty Bobs Bingo – The £100 prize for the Bingo was won yesterday. But never fear, a new game has started and we are currently looking for four corners and the centre for game 47 – the prize being £20.

Crafty Bob Treasure Hunt – Bob is still in hiding and the Bob Pot, that goes to the person who finds Crafty Bob waving, is currently nearing £120 – so who’s going to find him this time?

Crafty Bobs Tombola – With every order from craftsUprint getting an entry into the tombola, and every entry into the tombola winning a price you can be sure of getting something from the range of prices that goes from a Free Download to a £20 Gift Voucher, so if you do place an order on the site don’t forget to go to the Tombola to find out what your prize is.

“Crafty Bob’s Blog” – Don’t forget to check out Crafty Bob’s Blog periodically. Sometimes he puts up discount codes there, as well as information about what’s going on on the craftsUprint site.

You can see the cards Ive made using design sheets from CUP in my Crafter Showcase Area on Craftsuprint.com – here
(Just scroll down past the top boxes to see the cards.)

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